Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Day 42 - The 1-2-3 of God and Devotion
So. One of the more profound "gold star" practices utilized in the Integral Life Practice Spirit Module is The 1-2-3 of God. Without giving away too much, suffice to say that it is a unique synthesis of the three main perspectives all traditions seem to take in regards to the divine: 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.
In first person, we recognize our true self as the Godhead, Buddha, Christ consciousness, Hoo-Doo Supreme Rigga XXX, whatever. At its deepest base, our consciousness is "already enlightened", we're as omniconscious as we're going to get, and that's fine.
In third person, we see the world/manifest form in all its splendor, as the very face of the non-anthropomorphized Divine. Everything we touch, see, fuck, and dive into is absolutely coterminous with the Great That. This is what many traditions teach at least.
But what's truly cool (if anything involving the word "God" could be construed to be so, Kirk Cameron's fire-and-brimstone speeches nonwithstanding, ahem) is the practice of Second person, where the old guilt-inducing Christian notion of a personal, relational God comes in to play.
The problem is that we quickly associate this with -- gasp! -- petitional prayer to an Abstract Man (with beard), whereas this needn't be the case. The deep structural function of 2p devotion seems to be the cultivation of humility, the realization that a) yes, at your deepest root you and divinity are not-two, b) yes, the manifest realm of systems-shifting-within-systems is divinized stuff-matter itself, but also that c) you've got a long way to go when it comes to either realizing a) or being able to practice b). You're not enlightened, and you can't be everything, at least not little ol' you.
And so we practice devotion, declaration, oath-taking, silent conversation, and yesm petition, in order to decenter our selves in the face of the biggest relationship anyone could possibly ever concieve: the I-Thou with God/Spirit/Brahmin/Buddha/Sophia the Father/Mother/Supreme Architect/Ultra-Boss/Best Friend Space Buddy. And you know what's it's like being in a relationship: these motherfuckers tire you out, make unrealistic demands, and yet wow the shit out you with uncommon friendship and suprising twist-turns of compassion.
For me, my devotion is to the Supreme Ultra Oil-Coffee Deity, the dark energetic matter of the universe and atavistically propelling all spiraling forms through varying matter-mesh densities into the impenetrable Void of the Unknowable Noid.
But hey, God works too.
In first person, we recognize our true self as the Godhead, Buddha, Christ consciousness, Hoo-Doo Supreme Rigga XXX, whatever. At its deepest base, our consciousness is "already enlightened", we're as omniconscious as we're going to get, and that's fine.
In third person, we see the world/manifest form in all its splendor, as the very face of the non-anthropomorphized Divine. Everything we touch, see, fuck, and dive into is absolutely coterminous with the Great That. This is what many traditions teach at least.
But what's truly cool (if anything involving the word "God" could be construed to be so, Kirk Cameron's fire-and-brimstone speeches nonwithstanding, ahem) is the practice of Second person, where the old guilt-inducing Christian notion of a personal, relational God comes in to play.
The problem is that we quickly associate this with -- gasp! -- petitional prayer to an Abstract Man (with beard), whereas this needn't be the case. The deep structural function of 2p devotion seems to be the cultivation of humility, the realization that a) yes, at your deepest root you and divinity are not-two, b) yes, the manifest realm of systems-shifting-within-systems is divinized stuff-matter itself, but also that c) you've got a long way to go when it comes to either realizing a) or being able to practice b). You're not enlightened, and you can't be everything, at least not little ol' you.
And so we practice devotion, declaration, oath-taking, silent conversation, and yesm petition, in order to decenter our selves in the face of the biggest relationship anyone could possibly ever concieve: the I-Thou with God/Spirit/Brahmin/Buddha/Sophia the Father/Mother/Supreme Architect/Ultra-Boss/Best Friend Space Buddy. And you know what's it's like being in a relationship: these motherfuckers tire you out, make unrealistic demands, and yet wow the shit out you with uncommon friendship and suprising twist-turns of compassion.
For me, my devotion is to the Supreme Ultra Oil-Coffee Deity, the dark energetic matter of the universe and atavistically propelling all spiraling forms through varying matter-mesh densities into the impenetrable Void of the Unknowable Noid.
But hey, God works too.
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Hey, just wanted to mention two practices I've been doing, related to 1st person and 2nd person understanding of Spirit.
1st person is self-enquiry taught by Ramana Maharshi, "Who am I?" or the enquiry of Jed McKenna, "What is me?" This can be a powerful powerful practice...
2nd person, is a practice Ken actually suggested, and also takes the form of a repeated phrase, namely "Consent to the Presence of God."
1st person is self-enquiry taught by Ramana Maharshi, "Who am I?" or the enquiry of Jed McKenna, "What is me?" This can be a powerful powerful practice...
2nd person, is a practice Ken actually suggested, and also takes the form of a repeated phrase, namely "Consent to the Presence of God."
good call, i forgot about that ken practice dawg. didn't he do that at that one staff meeting?
i'll look into the "what is me" thing, by which i mean i'll look into me.
;)
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i'll look into the "what is me" thing, by which i mean i'll look into me.
;)
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